The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the arrest of a man accused of rape by his former live-in partner, Live Law reported. The woman alleged that the man, who promised to marry her, had been brutally abusive.

The bench comprising Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian asked: “When two people are living as husband and wife, however brutal the husband is, can the act of sexual intercourse between them be called rape?”

The woman alleged that the man fraudulently obtained her consent for sexual relations after she refused to be intimate with him until marriage, according to Bar and Bench. She claimed that they later had a marriage ceremony at a temple. The man denied this and claimed that the sexual relations between them were consensual.

The complainant filed a first information report against the man after he married another woman.

The court noted that it was wrong to make false promises of marriage. “No one should falsely promise marriage and break off,” it said. “But that is different from saying that the act of sexual intercourse is rape.”

The woman said the man “brutally exploited” her during their relationship and she had to be hospitalised for her injuries, according to Bar and Bench. Her lawyer Aditya Vashishtnath submitted medical records to the court.

The bench said: “Then you file a case for assault and marital cruelty. Why file a rape case?”

On the other hand, the accused claimed that the woman had also been in a relationship with other men. “This is the habitual case with the lady,” his lawyer Vibha Datta Makhija claimed.

The court rebuked the lawyer for her remark. “You cannot say this...she is a victim,” the bench said, according to NDTV. However, it stayed the man’s arrest for eight weeks and asked him to apply for bail.